Tethered to the Text: Why Expository Preaching?

Tethered to the Text: Why Expository Preaching?
CrossWay Community Church
October 16th, 2022

Podcast link.

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All Scriptural Sermons Ought to Be Evangelistic (J.I. Packer)

“Insofar as the preaching at our Sunday services is scriptural, those services will of necessity be evangelistic. It is a mistake to suppose that evangelistic sermons are a special brand of sermons, having their own peculiar style and conventions; evangelistic sermons are just scriptural sermons, the sort of sermons that a man cannot help preaching if he is preaching the Bible biblically. Proper sermons seek to expound and apply what is in the Bible. But what is in the Bible is just the whole counsel of God for man’s salvation; all Scripture bears witness, in one way or another, to Christ, and all biblical themes relate to him. All proper sermons, therefore, will of necessity declare Christ in some fashion and so be more or less directly evangelistic. Some sermons, of course, will aim more narrowly and exclusively at converting sinners than do others. But you cannot present the Lord Jesus Christ as the Bible presents him, as God’s answer to every problem in the sinner’s relationship with himself, and not be in effect evangelistic all the time. The Lord Jesus Christ, said Robert Bolton, is ‘offered most freely, and without exception of any person, every Sabbath, every Sermon, either in plaine, and direct terms, or implyedly, at the least.’ So it is, inevitably, wherever the Bible is preached biblically. And there is something terribly wrong in any church, or any man’s ministry, to which Bolton’s generalization does not apply.”

—J.I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Westmont, IL: IVP Books, 2012), pp. 62-63.

A Christian Vision for Racial Solidarity: An Alternative to Hostility, Hysteria, and Apathy

A Christian Vision for Racial Solidarity: An Alternative to Hostility, Hysteria, and Apathy
Christian Camp and Conference Association
Wisconsin Sectional Annual Conference
March 15th, 2022

Podcast link.


Lately, our society has witnessed increased attention and concern for matters of racial justice. Of course, as Christians, the equitable treatment of others aligns with our deepest moral convictions. However, many in society, including some Christians, have raised an alarm around this racial reckoning. Other Christians experience frustration or despair, interpreting this reaction as an attempt to hijack and derail progress on race. Where are Christians to begin when so many are given over to hysteria, hostility, and apathy? And how might the Bible and a Christian worldview lead us to a better alternative–namely, racial solidarity?